Speaking of unusual materials used for speakers; believe it or not Sony once came out with a series of speakers in a vintage series where the tweeters were made from something spewed from a bacteria. The called it a fiber but to me it sounded way more organic than that. I am interested in progressive materials being used in audio, since I am like most of the rest of you, in that I am always looking for audio advances, and unusual materials is something that could advance it. Hence my question on the Styrofoam driver BES speakers if anyone has experience with them.

If you have multiple encyclopedia sets, why not try bringing in to your listening room the older set. Even if they are out of date, they might sound better acoustically. If they are leather bound you will get a certain different sound. Or you could arrange them on your shelves so that the spines are away from you, and where the pages open are facing you. You won't be able to look things up as easily, but you can guess, around which volume you would need. Anything you need to look up with the letter A would probably be the first 2 volumes or so. X Y & Z would be the last few volumes probably. Anything needing looked up with the letter L will be...err a little harder, but what's 3 or 4 extra ttys when better sound is at stake. If you don't have Brittanica's and just have books, you won't really be able to find what book you want easily. But again that comes second to good sound.

Totally wanted to preserve this esoteric audio advice for posterity. Personally, I've found that the Britannicas released between 1924 and 1937 to be the absolute tops in imaging, detail and soundstage. They totally blow the 1950s Britannicas out of the water. (The 1928s in particular are stunning--it's like the musicians are right there in the room with you, reading the books and everything!) If you're listening with 1950s Brits in your room you really need to start there before changing out your other components. If you're one of the losers with a 1960s set there's no point even giving you advice.

Just to add one thing, I've perceived an impressive synergy with B&W speakers from the late 1990s with my '28 Britannicas. You might also try Tannoys, some people have had good luck with them. But only with the pre-war books. I wouldn't try American speakers and especially not Japanese...they clash horribly with the Britannicas...like ice picks in your ears, really.

Very good. I really enjoyed that. I've also experimented with World Book Encyclopedias. The text is way more abbreviated and concise, and it might be coincidence but they lack detail & constrict the soundstage. There was another old encyclopedia called World Scope Encyclopedia for cheapos, but they are sort of Plain Jane and don't come in "genuine" leather. No gold leafing on the page edges either, which is important if they are displayed the correct way with, where the pages open toward you and the spines against the back of the bookcase. As I said, without being able to read the spines, will take one a few extra try's locating the right volume, but what a slight inconvenience for better acoustics. Generally even with footers under stuff, hard materials sound harder and softer materials give a softening of the sound. What about the others? The Encyclopedia Americana? Glad you asked ! Its a real darkhorse, especially the 1966 non loser edition in blue. No edge of page gold leafing though, so visually you will not have a wall of "gold", but for some reason, perhaps the most coherency in the all important midrange. Not as much bass though.There are less volumes. Forget Comptons Encyclopedia, Brittanica Junior and Funk and Wagnell's. The great seer & soothsayer Carnac The Magnificent on the old Carson Tonight show used to use the steps of Funk and Wagnell's porch to keep the secret slips of paper with the questions he would divine in his infinite wisdom in a sealed mayonnaise jar. The real funny thing about all this is that much smaller seemingly more insignificant things than what an entire wall is lined with make noticeable differences. If you do an experiment and fill a glass with water and set it on something hard across the room.Have another person sit at the other side of the room and slap their knee, if your flooring is like most, you will see ripples in the water. Now for the big million dollar question.Sonically what yearbooks do you prefer ??

Something very simialar, which parallels looking for a particular encyclopedia volume from the wrong end is when I look for cds. I don't like opening those flimsy irritating CD cases, so I stack up all my cds on top of each other like thick stacks of pancakes. It involves thumbing through hundreds of cds sometimes before you find the one you are looking for, unless you get lucky. If the one I am looking for is the very last one in all the stacks, I put it back and don't play it. I am kind of superstitious. Unless its Christmas Eve and its The Andy Williams Christmas Album, which is a custom and which I always play. Its the only Christmas album in history which was #1on the Billboard charts the year it was released and the following years Christmastime also. I also collect records. I had a call from a guy one time that sounded like he had some real old rare stuff. The dollar signs in my mind danced like sugarplums. When I got there they were stacked up on top of each other like my cds.They looked like the biggest stack of round pancakes ever. When I asked about the record covers, his expression sank and defeatingly said, "Oh you want em with the covers." I recently bought one of those CD zippered cases that hold lots of cds.You slip them right into the see through pockets, (2 on each page side). The only thing is; arranging them alphabetically like an encyclopedia is harder than thumbing through them in your palm by the hundreds. If you mess up and forget one, then all the other ones are out of order & need to be taken out of their pockets and inserted back one further. Each time you make an error you have to do it all over again, and what if you get a new CD which starts with the letter K or something? Where's that supposed to go with no room for it? I don't understand how to do this. I was having the darndest time. Then I just decided the hell with it, I'll just arrange them in the order of how often I play them. The last one I have in the case got mixed in with the cds and really isn't a CD but a picture disc of the "wrong" side of the family. Its in with the Christmas ones, which only get played a few months out of the year around the holidays.

As far as the encyclopedias facing the other way. The usual way, their harder spines would be the sizable reflective surfrace. The, (lets call it the unusual way), their "softer pages are the predominant reflecting surface. It all depends how close the books are to the sound source too.The further away, probably the less noticeable the influence on the sound. I put a few acoustic guitars behind my speakers. I do believe I hear something nicer and more resonant about the sound. Would love to try the Shun Mook discs, but that's going to more expense than I usually go. The other thing about encyclopedias or anything else that has significant weight is that you are loading your floor. Just like heavier speaker stands improve the sound of speakers compared to light flimsy ones, maybe floors that have a bit more weight on them, vibrate less and vibrate your equipment less.

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